Is Fiserv the worst company you've ever worked for?
20 replies (most recent on top)
Yes. Fiserv is the worst company that I have ever worked for. The micromanagement, monitoring software, coworkers who try to throw each other under the bus. Avoid if all possible.
I adored Fiserv when I joined in 2018 remotely. I was so proud to work there; great team, product and collaborative. Then, the First Data ("FD") thing happened in 2019. There was a similar FD product to the one I worked with at Fiserv. Leadership, in their infinite wisdom, decided to retire the Fiserv product instead of the FD one, which boggled the mknd given how messed up it was. Thousands of security issues, client complaints, you name it. That should have given me the sign to leave, but hindsight is 20/20.
I (along with my entire team) got moved to this cr---y OFD ("original first data") product we knew nothing about, only to find out basically no one at OFD ("original first data") also knew nothing about it. Anyone who did either were moved to other r positions right before the acquisition or quit shortly thereafter. In about 60 days time, all of us OFS ("original fiserv") people had to go to a meeting in person to explain ourselves on where we were with migrating clients from the OFS product to to this piece of cr-p OFD product no one knew anything about, certainly not even the OFD people in the room. Literally yerled at like we were children. I was one of the only people to speak up and say hey, we need help. Didn't go over well. The OFD people talked in a joking way about how many hours they worked, taking their laptops to hospitals when their kids were born, on their honeymoons... All of us OFS people were like "Um, that's not cool. We don't work like that" to which they all kinda chuckled and said "well, that's the job... It's expected to dial into meetings when you're off for the holidays." Huh? Again, should have seen the writing on the wall, but we all thought we BOUGHT them, so OFS would trump. We were wrong.
After about 1 year of working 6 to 7 days a week, 15 hours a day, I finally got a job in another division. It saved my life getting out of that product. I was exhausted all the time, traveling constantly until the pandemic hit and once everyone else was working from home, the workday got longer and longer. My heath, mental and physical, suffered. My relationships, especially my marriage, almost fell apart. When I wasn't working, I was too exhausted to want to do anything with anyone. I would wake up in the morning, stare at the ceiling and think how I didn't want to get out of bed. Within months of me moving off that product, everyone else left, too. I'm talking scrum masters, developers, product managers, project managers, you name it. They all hauled a-s.
Fast forward to the new job I got within the company, which was one of the best year of my career. Great group, good product and the team was amazing. The reason? That division was still kind of isolated from the new leadership. Then, over the summer of 2021,a former colleague of mine in the previous division called me in a PANIC. There was an all hands on deck meeting with a SVP of that division in which they were told everyone needed to go to an office at least 50 percent of the time, regardless if you were hired remote. The reason? "clients are suffering because they are going back to the office and we are not." folks, I was a client before I worked there. Clients don't give a sh-t where you work, as long as you are available to them when they need you. I call bu-----t on that. No office near you? Move to where there is one, specifically Berkeley Heights, NJ.
Everyone knows NJ is one of the most expensive states in the US. I know hundreds of people who are/were in a position to either move or be severed. What is the severance? The usual 2 weeks for every year. I was offered a relo package which requires me to sign an agreement to stay with company 2 years. Otherwise, I'd need to pay back the relo money they'd give me, which wasn't enough to even pay realtor fees to sell my house, let alone moving expenses. Oh, and the pay increase to move to NJ? 4 percent. Yeah, you read that right. I get paying back relo fees, but there as no guarantee I'd even have a job for those two years, and given the direction the company is going into, said no. I was waiting for my severance date when I gave my two weeks notice. The only people I felt bad for was my manager and team, as they made the job great.
I was really floored by all of this and out of all the people I know who have to move or will be let go? I know of maybe 2 who are going to move from the southeast to NJ. The amount of talent (I'm talking people who have 10,15, 20 years) leaving boggles my mind. I was finally out of the he-l of that product I got thrown into, in a new position with a team of people who weren't just my coworkers, but my friends, only to have it yanked from under me. We were really focused on delivering new feature functionally after a year of Voltage cr-p, trying to do data center migrations and getting nowhere. I had no choice but to leave.
Oh, they started with the "50 percent in the office) but now it's 5 days a week.. Yes they are doing badge swipe monitoring and if you aren't there full time, you're in trouble
Frank, what is the point of "in person collaboration" when I spent my days on MS Team calls, only to move to NJ and do the same thing in an office? A number of my co-workers were in the same postion, as my team was scattered across the US. There wasn't a single soul in that office I'd work with on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. A "one size fits all" solution is not viable. Clients aren't suffering because of where "Fiservians" work; they'll suffer when there is no one around to do the work who knows a thing about the products. Oh and they're already suffering because teams weren't fully staffed before and certainly aren't now. Major banks and CUs know what is going on and are looking to competitors, and will be ending their contracts. Trust me when I say this: the word is out there. I've been reached out to by Fiserv competitors who are gobbing up your talent. Mediocre people settle for mediocrity, and that's what you'll be left with, aside from the really dedicated people who feel too bad to leave, or hope it will get better. It won't. You're doing a massive amount of damage to a great company, and I don't know how or if you'll come back.
You'd think the BOD knows what was going on, how lives are being ruined and get him out of there. Even some at a senior levels are looking to leave. They're just following along until they land that next gig. Maybe the BOD doesn't care as they are seeing this reduction on force equal cost savings, but when clients aren't paying the light bill... I wouldn't want to be them answering to the stockholders.
I'm not bitter at Fiserv; I'm bitter about what Frank and his leadership is doing to a once great company. I wonder what Jeff Yabuki thinks about all this, from his beachhouse in CA.
it is now.. once exposed it will become a textbook case on what not to do.
I enjoyed my time there before first data. Once their leadership came in, it was chaos. I was hired as remote but heard that would be going away as new leaders came on.
Yes, under the new Frank regime...prior to FrankServ I worked for this company for over 13 years and raved about it. I really miss what Fiserv used to be about...doing the right thing for our customers and enployees. We were by no means perfect but we certainly worked to be better for our clients.
Now it's all about doing the wrong thing but with terrible communication so no one knows what the F is going on anyway. Morale is low, people are frustrated and tired of working in this type of "fear culture" environment dictated by Frank. He is very out of touch with the reality of most positions at Fiserv. It would behoove him to take a step back, go undercover and work with the "commoners." Also to move out of the 1990s corp America culture and be more forward thinking. Frank, if you're reading this please try a different approach. Amazing, talented people are practically jumping out the windows in record numbers to get away. Why would you want that for your company? Doesnt that make you feel terrible?
Not the worst, but its the first job I have been at that went from good/great to terrible.
I had a job giving enemas to elephants once. But actually, come to think of it, this is worse.
In its current version, it is one of the worst work experiences I have had.
Bad enough to move on!
Not the worst. The worst was a regional bank. Suit and tie, outdated processes, horrific culture. Quick story - we had to come in on a Saturday to move to a different cubicle farm. They let us dress down to business casual to perform the jobs of movers. Otherwise, it was suit and tie on a pittance. If you had a wrinkled shirt, you got written up. If you had pictures on your cubicle wall that caused distracting conversations, you were told to take them down. If you got soup with your sandwich on a team lunch, you got called out by the director as being selfish and gluttonous on the company dime.
Now remember, that was a bank. What does Frank want to do? He wants to turn Fiserv into a bank culture. Specifically, JPMC. His wet dream is to be as big as daddy J. Dimon.
So what does that mean? Inch by inch, the 'talent' of Fiserv will come to be treated like the expendable cost centers of a bank, not like 'talent' is treated at big tech, or any other fintech. I'm not talking about ibankers - they are treated like royalty - I'm talking about the rank and file minions that actually keep the place running.
Hence, you will see monitored badge swipes, Sapience tracking, micro-managed Clarity bookings and a butts-in-seats model of command and control.
Low end management, junior high HR group (who have no HRM certifications), sc-m corporate attorneys who would NEVER survive with any law firm. No plan for any career progression….need I continue ?
I came into fiserv from a company acquired by first data and I guess we are somewhat insulated from all the layoffs and relocation. We have a good pay and bonus structure in place, so maybe it's not fair to say I even really work for fiserv.
That being said, I don't see it as all doom and gloom like everyone on here. I've worked at several companies that were acquired by giant fortune 500 companies and would say those situations were much worse, at one I was laid off and another I quit after getting a 1% raise.
On the other hand I'm the last one standing on my team and have two job offers pending. So in other words, everyone I know, including myself is leaving... so it's still bad, but not the worst.
Fiserv was great when I started. Now the hours are unmanageable, and I don't feel that my remote job is secure anymore.
No it wasn’t the worst. In fact it was great, until Frank took over. I recently left because it was becoming a terrible place to work. But for most of my time there it was great. Frank ruined it all.
No, but I was only there for a couple of years before gtfo a few weeks ago (thank god)
It appears our competitors are trolling this site, based on Fiserv out performing them. Look at fis and global payments stock on a year to date basis vs Fiserv.
Yes. Frank destroyed anything good about OSI/FISERV
It's actually second. The worst was a food processing plant I worked at as a student (it had long since gone bankrupt.) Otherwise, when it comes to companies still in existence, Fiserv is the absolute worst of the bunch.
Absolutely positively Yes. Even before 1st data, benefits and salary were not good. 8
Before Frank and co. entered the scene, Fiserv used to be a great company to work for. At one point, I was even proud to tell people I work here. Now, Frank is violently destroying teams around the company with his so-called "policy" and seems to enjoy doing it. Now, I have to try to minimize my stress by putting in only slightly more effort than then rest of my team. Shame on you, Frank.
yes
Frank is the worst CEO I have worked for, so by extension, this is the worst company I have worked for in my career. I m not a long-term Fiserv employee, I came from an acquisition, but I was impressed by Jeff and I thought he was the best CEO I had worked for in my career. This makes Frank seem like an even worse leader. Frank does not value nor trust employees.